I am a 60-ish married engineer that has dealt with moderate eczema my entire life, primarily through the use of topical steroids. In early 2012 things started going wrong, and this blog is a personal diary of my journey through Topical Steroid Withdrawal, also known as Red Skin Syndrome, Topical Steroid Addiction, or Steroid Induced Eczema. I have been completely free from all steroids since July 9, 2013. Please see www.itsan.org for more info and feel free to post here!

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

In reading what others have gone through with topical
steroid withdrawal, there seems to be a late stage where they kind of disappear.I believe it’s a time when they feel good
enough that the symptoms are no longer the central focus of their lives and
they just want to get on with life.

I am
at that point.

I have been taking pictures of my body on a regular basis,
especially the left hand to show a progression and to be honest my hands look
worse than the last ones I posted.I
still can’t wear a watch and just a couple weeks ago my hands were covered with
giant cracks everywhere, but I *feel* better.The weird anxious feelings, the
electrical jolts, the insomnia, the temperature control problems, the cold
sweats, the weight loss, the mental fuzziness, are essentially gone.I feel good!The insidious itching is still there, but much less than before.My hands, feet, and, well, unmentionables, still
are a problem, and I sense that it will take a very long time for the itching
to go away, but I can sense slow steady improvement.

None of my rings (size 9) fit, so I bought a
new cheap one wile my wife and I were visiting San Antonio (size 11) a few
weeks ago that fits and it is a bit
looser than it was.I am starting to see
the veins on the back of my hands again that were once very prominent.I am no longer taking hydroxyzine and only
occasionally take ibuprofen to help control the itch.

Another life event that has helped put a perspective on my
topical steroid withdrawal is my wife’s health.She has noticed a very slowly worsening strength in her body, especially
legs and hands.After months of testing
and prodding, and a terrible cancer scare, it has been narrowed down to
muscular dystrophy, although we still don’t know which of the 40 or so types it
is.This is an incurable muscle disease
that will get progressively worse.She
isa trouper and takes whatever hand is
dealt to her with grace and acceptance and is my greatest inspiration.I have no right to complain about anything.

We are now in YOLO (you only live once) mode.I just bought a sports car (not expensive or
anything; a 2003 Toyota MR2 Spyder.She
already has a 2007 Vette) and we are going on a Caribbean cruise soon. She is retired and committed her life to
helping others.She is part of “NICU
Helping Hands Angel Gown Project” http://www.nicuhelpinghands.org/lend-a-helping-hand/angel-gowns/
and tirelessly converts donated wedding gowns into tiny little dresses and
tuxedos that babies wear when they don’t make it home from the hospital.Talk about putting our lives into
perspective.

Speaking of babies, I’ve basically given up my efforts to
convince Baby Pibu from manufacturing and marketing topical steroid products aimed
at precious babies. To be honest, this
experience has shaken my faith in humanity to the core. We live in a society driven purely by greed
and profit. Money, like religion, is a
drug that alters our perspective of reality and will cause otherwise good
people to do despicable things.

"Addiction to (Topical) Steroids is a serious problem which reaches tragic proportions in some cases. It is more common than realized, sly and seductive and will be prevented only when the physician becomes as impressed with the capacity of the steroids to do harm as they are with their power to suppress, not cure, virtually any inflammatory disorder." - Dr. Albert M. Kligman M.D. Ph.D. and Dr. Peter J. Frosch M.D., International Society of Topical Dermatology Journal, 1979